Diamond-reinforced composites prepared by cold spray are emerging materials simultaneously featuring outstanding thermal conductivity and wear resistance. Their mechanical and fatigue properties relevant to perspective engineering applications were investigated using miniature bending specimens. Cold sprayed specimens with two different mass concentrations of diamond 20% and 50% in two metallic matrices (Al – lighter than diamond, Cu – heavier than diamond) were compared with the respective pure metal deposits. These pure metal coatings showed rather limited ductility. The diamond addition slightly improved ductility and fracture toughness of the Cu-based composites, having a small effect also on the fatigue crack growth resistance. In case of the Al composites, the ductility as well as fatigue crack growth resistance and fracture toughness have improved significantly. The static and fatigue failure mechanisms were fractographically analyzed and related to the microstructure of the coatings, observing that particle decohesion is the primary failure mechanism for both static and fatigue fracture.

Cold gas spraying is a solid-state deposition process developed for metallic powders as feedstock materials. For ceramic materials; such low temperature-high velocity kinetic process is still questionable but could have interesting advantages. In the CERASOL project (ANR-19-CE08-0009); the nature and the architecture of porous ceramic powders involving agglomerated sub-micrometric grains are investigated. To that purpose; three oxide ceramics powders (alumina; zirconia and yttria) have been prepared for cold spray. These powders were analyzed in order to assess their architecture (composition; particle size; porosity; density; crystallite sizes…). Preliminary cold spray experiments were carried out implementing velocities measurements for various stand-off distances and spraying of coupons with line experiments. The characteristics of the deposited layers have been examined by SEM and XRD in order to discuss the role of the powder architecture on the impact behavior of the nanostructured agglomerated particles. The role of the gas stream that affects the kinetic and the trajectory of the particles are also discussed.

The low-pressure cold spray (LPCS) technique could be an attractive method for copper metallization of ceramic substrates to power module applications due to its one-step quick and low-temperature process. However, manufacturing pure copper coating on a ceramic substrate by LPCS is still challenging due to its low deposition efficiency and poor adhesion strength. Our previous study successfully demonstrated the possibility of obtaining a zirconia substrate's metallization by using a feedstock powder mixture of copper and aluminum. However, the copper content in the coating was not high enough for power module applications. Therefore, in this study, we aim to improve the copper content in the coating layer composed of the composite powder deposited by LPCS on alumina and zirconia substrates. The influence of the gas pressure and standoff distance on the copper content and coating thickness are evaluated. The coating build-up with a high copper content and thickness is highly dependent on the kinetic energy of particles, enhanced by high gas pressure and short stand-off distance.

This study investigates the potential of cold-sprayed tungsten coatings for use in nuclear fusion reactors. Three commercially available tungsten powders were selected from which six series of feedstock were prepared. The feedstocks were deposited on aluminum, steel, and stainless steel substrates using high-pressure nitrogen cold spraying. The coatings produced were characterized based on SEM, EDX, and XRD analysis and were found to be free of oxides with levels of tungsten that were previously unachieved. The results indicate that cold spraying is a viable technology for applying tungsten-base coatings to critical components in nuclear fusion equipment.

In previous studies at McGill University, tin was successfully cold sprayed onto carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs). A “crack-filling” mechanism was described as the deposition mechanism that allowed deposition of tin onto the CFRP. Improving the coating conductivity for lightning strike protection (LSP) purposes was achieved by adding other metal powders (aluminum, copper, zinc) to tin and cold spraying on the CFRP. At the same time, it was noticed that the addition of this secondary component (SC) provided an increase in deposition efficiency (DE), tamping was initially hypothesized to explain this improvement, thus prompting a study solely on the effect of SC hardness, which is reported elsewhere in this conference. However, it is recognised that other powder characteristics may also be influencing the DE. Thus, in this study, SCs with a wider variety of particle sizes, morphologies, densities and hardness values were mixed with tin and sprayed on CFRPs. The effect of SC properties on tin deposition is discussed and an optimal combination of SC properties for cold spraying of tin is suggested.

Light water reactors (LWR) use zirconium-alloy fuel claddings, the tubes that hold the uranium-dioxide fuel pellets. Zr-alloys have very good neutron transparency, but during a loss of coolant accident or beyond design basis accident (BDBA) they can undergo excessive oxidation in reaction with the surrounding steam environment. Relatively thin oxidation-resistant coatings on Zr-alloy fuel cladding tubes can potentially buy coping time in these off-normal scenarios. In this study, cold spraying, solid-state powder-based materials deposition technology has been developed for deposition of oxidation-resistant Cr coatings on Zr-alloy cladding tubes, and the ensuing microstructure and properties of the coatings have been investigated. The coatings when deposited under optimum conditions have very good hydrothermal corrosion resistance as well as oxidation resistance in air and steam environments at temperatures in excess of 1100 °C, while maintaining excellent adhesion to the substrate. These and other results of this study, including mechanical property evaluations, will be presented.

In this work, Inconel 718 gas-atomized powder was successfully heat treated over the range of 700-900°C. As-atomized and as-heat treated powders were cold sprayed with both nitrogen and helium gasses. Cold spray of high strength materials is still challenging due to their resistance to particle deformation affecting the resulting deposit properties. Powder heat treatment to modify its deformation behavior has recently been developed for aluminum alloy powders, however, there is no literature reported for Inconel 718 powders. The microstructural evolution of the powder induced by the heat treatment was studied and correlated with their deformation behavior during the cold spray deposition. Deposits sprayed with heat-treated powders at 800 and 900 °C and nitrogen showed less particle deformation and higher porosity as compared to as-atomized deposit associated to the presence of delta phase in the powders precipitated by the heat treatment. In contrast, deposits sprayed with helium using both powder conditions, as-atomized and as heat-treated powders, showed high particle deformation and low porosity indicating that the type of gas has a greater effect on the particle deformation than the delta phase precipitated in the heat-treated powders. These results contribute to understanding the role of powder microstructure evolution induced by heat treatment on the cold spray deposits properties.

Industries developing cold-spray processes aim at producing dense and resistant coatings. Controlling microstructure and inter-particular fracture characteristics of sprayed coatings is essential to improve their properties. To do so, post-spraying heat treatment is a promising approach. This work addresses the development of such heat treatments and focuses on the analysis of recovery and recrystallization. Different heat treatment parameters were explored, namely, holding temperature and time, heating rate, and heating method. This approach revealed a competition between recrystallization and other microstructural evolution mechanisms, such as precipitation and porosity coalescence. An optimized heat treatment, allowing microstructural softening and adequate mechanical properties, was sought after. First, differential scanning calorimetry measurements applied to as-sprayed coatings enabled to identify recovery and recrystallization temperature ranges. Then, a variety of heat treatments was applied, involving long-time isothermal holdings as well as shorter cycles. Microstructure analysis and hardness measurements allowed making a first selection of treatment conditions.

Segregating the convoluted effects of particle size, impact temperature and velocity on deposition behavior and adhesion is of utmost interest to the cold spray field. The current study aims to associate the particle impact behavior and adhesion to its in-flight characteristics by studying and decoupling the influence of particle size, temperature and velocity for single particle impacts and full coatings. Experimental results reveal that in-situ peening processes contribute to the adhesion at low impact temperature while particle velocity controls the adhesion/cohesion at increased particle impact temperatures. The benefits of both bonding mechanisms are discussed in terms of measured adhesion/cohesion, bend-to-break fracture surfaces, pseudoplasticity, deposition efficiency and critical velocity. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results provide individual particle trajectory, size, temperature and velocity, of successfully deposited particles, which have led to the observed signs of metallurgical bonding.

Residual stress can be developed in most thermally sprayed coatings due to the momentum of molten particles during impact, and heat transfer during solidification of the splats. Another reason for residual stress built-up in thermally sprayed coatings is due to splat curl-up during solidification and the differences in thermal expansion coefficients between the coating and the substrate. However, in the cold spraying process, it is believed that the main reason for residual stress formation is plastic deformation during impact and flattening of solid particles. Residual stresses can drastically influence coating quality and reduce its service time. In this study, residual stress is measured for two well-known nickel based super alloys (Inconel 625 and Inconel 718) deposited on 7074 aluminum alloy substrates by the cold spraying technique. Residual stress in Inconel 625 was found to be highly tensile on the surface and compressive on the subsurfaces. After heat treatment the residual stress was relieved and was compressive in nature. Whereas for Inconel 718, residual stress was compressive on the surface and tensile on the subsurfaces in the as-sprayed condition. After heat treatment, the residual stress was compressive with increased magnitude. The heat treatment at 800°C made the residual stress more compressive. The porosities of both Inconel 625 and Inconel 718 were reduced after heat treatment.

Low pressure cold spraying is an attractive technique for onsite metal coating fabrication due to its compactness and portability. However, the bonding strength of the coating prepared by low pressure cold spraying is generally low, which restricts the further applications in engineering and industrial fields. To improve the bonding strength, pre-treatment on substrate surface can be an effective procedure. In this study, a low-temperature plasma treatment was applied to a pretreatment technique, and the effect of the treatment on particle bonding was compared with that of a laser treatment. Copper coatings on aluminum and copper substrates were selected and studied as basic metal materials. The SEM observation results show that the particle adhesion rate significantly increases by the laser and plasma treatments, due to the removal of the native oxide films on the substrates. The particle bonding on the plasma-treated substrate reveals better interfacial adhesion with less gap compared with the laser-treated one. The pre-treatment by low-temperature plasma can be an attractive technique to assist the cold spraying process due to the oxide removal ability and no thermal effect which can apply a wide range of materials.

Due to their excellent corrosion resistance, austenitic stainless steels are suitable for surface protection applications. However, the application potential is often limited by the low wear resistance. An interstitial hardening of the surface layer area can solve this problem for massive wrought alloys. Further potential for improvement lies in the transition to surface technology. For this purpose, powder feedstock of the stainless-steel grade AISI 316L was gas nitrocarburized at low temperatures. The formation of a metastable expanded austenitic phase was achieved. Subsequently, the processing was carried out by cold gas spraying. Due to the simultaneously high process kinetics and low thermal load, dense coatings were produced while maintaining the metastable state of the feedstock. When compared to solid reference systems, the scratch resistance saw a marked improvement.

This study investigates the effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and tribological properties of TiB 2 -reinforced AlSi 10 Mg composite coatings produced by cold spraying. SEM and XRD analysis showed that the microstructure of the feedstock powder was well preserved in the as-sprayed material with uniformly distributed TiB 2 nanoparticles, some aggregated clusters, and a cellular-like network of fine eutectic Si particles embedded in an aluminum matrix. With increasing heat treatment temperature, the Si particles grew larger in size, but significantly fewer in number and a reduction in microhardness was observed due mainly to the elimination of the work hardening effect and coarsening of the Si particles.

WC-Ni metal-matrix composite coatings were deposited by low-pressure cold spraying using feedstock powders with different amounts of carbide. Uniaxial quasi-static tensile testing was conducted on the as-sprayed coatings to investigate the effect of porosity, particle size, and mean free path on mechanical properties. The evolving strain fields were measured via digital image correlation and image analysis was used to characterize coating microstructure. The coatings with higher carbide content exhibited better tensile properties, which is attributed to significant consolidation of the matrix, increased interfacial area, smaller average carbide size, and reduced mean free path between carbide particles.